6 Years of Mr. & Mrs. Mangini

Six years ago today, Ryan and I became "Mr. & Mrs. Mangini" (we both look so young and well rested!). It has been quite an adventure. Over the past six years, we have lived in 6 different homes, Ryan has attended 3 different junior colleges and 1 university while I have attended 3 different universities.....and we're still not finished! Five years ago today we were in AZ at family reunion. Four years ago today we learned I was pregnant with Giovanni. Three years ago today we purchased our first Disneyland annual passes. Neither of us can remember what we did for our anniversary two years ago.....probably went to Disneyland. :) One year ago today we were on a cruise to Ensenada, Mexico (Giovanni stayed with my sister & her family). Yesterday, Ryan took the day off, spent the morning with Gio while I was at a Dr.'s appt., got a massage (my present to him), then we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening at Disneyland. Today, Ryan surprised me with a new pink Sony Cybershot digital camera I've had my eye on, we cleaned the house and attended Wendy's birthday party. We were supposed to go to dinner tonight, just the two of us, but we're both still so full from Joi's delicious enchiladas! As crazy as life has been for us so far, I look forward to our future together with excitement. I am constantly amazed by Ryan and truly believe that he is meant to be my eternal companion. He is such a wonderful husband and father. P.S. I stuck the pic of just my flowers in 'cause I just miss my waist so much! HA HA!!

Mother-Daughter Overnighter

Friday night I had the pleasure of taking Giovanni to our stake's mother-daughter overnighter. That's right. He wasn't the only boy - there was a baby boy, too. He was so excited to "go camping in a tent" that as soon as Ryan had it all set up (he came just to set up for us), Gio climbed right in and told me, "Mommy, I tired. I go sleep in a tent." I didn't let him. There were games that night that Gio was too young to participate in but it didn't stop him from hanging out on the stage anyway. His favorite was the hula hoops. He tried pretty hard to make it work. He said, "Mommy, I wanna shake!" Too funny. At the campfire, he climbed right on my lap and cuddled in my arms. He fell asleep by 9:37 (I asked Cathy & Jessica what time it was)! He slept all the way in to 7:05. :) I figure this means I won 'cause when Ryan took Gio to the father-son overnighter he didn't fall asleep 'til almost midnight and woke up at 5:30 a.m.! ha ha. The priesthood, including the stake president and his 2nd counselor, cooked & served us breakfast in the morning that was delicious. There were more games after that but Gio was more interested climbing on the rocks in the campground. Overall, we both had a great time. Giovanni was so worn out he fell asleep on the ride home, only 4 1/2 hours after he woke up! It's moments like these that I realize how blessed I am to be Giovanni's mommy. I never thought I'd space my kids 3 1/2 years apart, but I'm actually very grateful that we did. I have had the last 3 1/2 years with Gio all to myself. When this next child is born, I expect that I will be sleep deprived and my patience tried, but I also know that I will love him instantly. I have no idea what to expect when it comes to sharing my attention with Giovanni. His feelings have actually been my number one concern since learning I was pregnant. He is such a mommy's boy and I wouldn't have it any other way.

The Sisters

Last week, Ryan's sisters, Hollie & Chelsea, came down from Sacramento. We had so much fun! Giovanni immediately roped them into playing Mario Kart on the Wii until Auntie Hollie let him play with the hose in our front yard (something I never do). Ryan barbecued shrimp that night that was soooo delicious! We went to the beach on Wednesday where Auntie Hollie & Auntie Chelsea helped Gio build a sandcastle. They only played in the water a little bit as Gio's still pretty afraid of the big waves. We spent the rest of the time showing them around as they are thinking of moving down here after the fall semester. It was really great spending time with them!

The Mind of My Gio....

I spend many Sundays wondering what the heck Giovanni is getting out of Church as he spends the entire sacrament meeting playing with toys, eating snacks or being placed in time out for his disruptive behavior. Occasionally, I catch a glimpse of hope. Like, when I was the lucky recipient of a great big box of unfrosted cupcakes, left over from Girl's Camp, and he informed his "Tunko Matt" that, "Those are Jesus' cupcakes.....from church!" Well, today, we were lucky enough to capture such a moment. On the way home from Church, Gio said, "Thank you for going a church today, Mommy," and then, "Thank you for going a church today, Daddy." Such a sweet boy.

Nor Cal

No, this post is not about Gio's first trip to Hooters - we visited Ryan's family in Northern California last week. We left Wednesday around noon and arrived at Ryan's dad's in time to celebrate Chelsea's birthday (the sister on the right, Hollie's on the left). Ryan spent hours and hours fixing everyone's computers, I finished reading Breaking Dawn while Giovanni had a blast playing with all his aunties and uncle Nate-dawg. Friday night, Ryan's mom and Jess took all three of the grandkids camping and had a birthday party for all of them complete with a cake, presents and singing "Happy Birthday" to each of the kids. Ryan and I fully appreciated the night off. He went to some old friend's house to fix their computer while I visited the bra section of Motherhood Maternity in the mall to solve a persistent upper backache. When we met back up, we visited our good friends, the Boothes. It was SO great to see them! The boys played cards while Becca & I hung out. She even gave me a massage (she's a professional)! The last time we saw them, Gio was still very much a baby but they're finally residing in Cali so we really hope to see them more often now. Saturday, Ryan and I drove up to his mom's place in Jackson and spent the day there. He cleaned their carpets and fixed more computer problems while I continued reading. We also walked around downtown Jackson (Main St.). It's one of my favorite places to visit when we're up there. We were saddened to find many of our favorite shops and even one of the best pizza places were either closing or already closed due to the recession. Giovanni had a blast with his cousins and grandparents at the campground. They played miniature golf TWICE, tossed horseshoes and swam for FOUR hours. Yay for Horsey Grandma who kept up with all of them! Sunday we attended church and just lounged around 'til it was time to drop off Alex & Samantha. We also spent quality time with our pride and joy, Emma (our cat Maine Coon kitty who lives with Ryan's mom). She was definitely loving life as Ryan fed her wet cat food twice a day every day that we were there to keep her around. We headed back home Monday morning but are sure grateful for the time we had up there with family and friends. Amazingly, we saw 5 out of the 7 sisters (Kellie, Hollie, Benia, Chelsea & Geena) - a record considering nobody got married or died!

Gio's Haircut

Up until last week, getting Giovanni's hair cut was an absolute nightmare. There would be screaming and wailing and gnashing of teeth. That was before we discovered Cool Cuts 4 Kids. I heard about it from another mom at swimming lessons and it was a dream come true! When we arrived there last Tuesday, we signed in then went to this cute little play area that had PBS playing on a tv, a Lego Duplo table AND a Thomas table. Gio was in heaven. He got to play there for about 25 minutes before he was called. When it was his turn, he got to pick out a movie (he chose Cars) and sat in an adorable little red fire engine. The hair stylist let him play with the clippers before she started so he'd be comfortable with them and know they wouldn't hurt. Then the haircut began.....and he was cooperative! He REALLY liked looking at himself in the mirror and especially to view the end result. I was so proud of him, after the whole thing was over, when he actually said, "Thank you for the haircut!" and I didn't even prompt him to do so!

Is it a puppy or a chicken?

My favorite thing to tell people when they look at my growing belly and ask, "Do you know what you're having?" is, "I'm pretty sure it's a puppy. Or a chicken." Well, I finally have something to tell everyone. Last night, Ryan and I were fortunate enough to have an hour long ultra sound session with Julie's brother, Todd, who's in ultra sound tech school. I'll tell you this: this baby has a big head, big feet and big, well, he's definitely a boy! Thank you sooo much, Julie, for hooking us up with Todd. It was a really neat experience to see our precious little one with a tech who took his time. Ryan and I are in shock, to say the least, imagining life with two Gios. We were even joking last night that maybe the Bishop would give us permission to hold Sacrament meetings at home to keep the reverence at church!

It's here!!!

I'm soooo excited! My sweet adoring husband, who not only greeted me at the Stake Center with two dozen roses when I returned from Girl's Camp but also had a fantastic week with Gio while I was gone, ordered Breaking Dawn for me while I was up there, too! It just arrived from Amazon with the mail and I can't wait dive into it. Now, if I could just keep Gio occupied.....

TAGGED!!

The rules are you have to take ten pictures of the following things. And you have to do it right away. No straightening, cleaning or wiping your child's nose. Then you tag five others.

1. the kitchen sink

2. the refrigerator

3. the laundry room

4. your favorite room

5. your favorite shoes (how's a girl to narrow it down?)

6. the closet

7. the bathroom toilet (is there any other kind of toilet??)

8. what your kids are doing right now

9. a self portrait

10. your dream vacation

So, now I tag: anyone who's even remotely interested in doing this themselves!